2024年12月六级第1套仔细阅读 Passage 1 原文翻译及答案解析

Imagine you're an alien sent to Earth to document the behaviour of the mammals inhabiting the planet. You stumble into a movie theatre that's showing the latest Hollywood horror film.

想象你是一名被派往地球记录该星球哺乳动物行为的外星人。你偶然走进一家正在上映最新好莱坞恐怖片的电影院。

Several dozen humans are gathered together in a dark, undecorated room. They're all staring at a rectangular area on which patterns of light change rapidly.

几十个人类聚集在一个黑暗、简陋的房间里。他们都盯着一个矩形区域，上面光影图案快速变化。

They are clearly in a state of high arousal. Their heart rate is elevated, they occasionally glance around nervously, and they sometimes jump collectively in their seats, and emit high-pitched warning calls.

他们显然处于高度兴奋状态。心率升高，他们偶尔紧张地环顾四周，有时集体在座位上跳起来，并发出高音调的警告呼喊。

Eventually, the lights come up and the rectangular screen goes black. The humans stand up and leave the room, chatting and laughing, and showing signs of pleasure.

最终，灯光亮起，矩形屏幕变黑。人类站起来离开房间，谈笑风生，表现出愉悦的迹象。

Why do these humans voluntarily expose themselves to what appears to be a deeply unpleasant experience? And why do they react so strongly to those patterns of light on a screen?

为什么这些人类自愿将自己暴露在看似极其不愉快的经历中？又为什么他们对屏幕上那些光影图案反应如此强烈？

I am fascinated with the paradox of horror—the strange fact that many people seek out scary entertainment.

我对恐怖悖论深感着迷——许多人寻求恐怖娱乐这一奇怪事实。

I think the answer to the puzzle lies in human nature.

我认为这个谜题的答案在于人性。

My research suggests that we humans evolved to find pleasure in situations that allow us to experience negative emotions in a safe context. You can see these elements of horror in children's games. Take hide-and-seek for example, which is a simulation of a predator-prey interaction. The kid hides and the adult pretends to be a predator, searching for the child while howling like a dangerous beast.

我的研究表明，人类进化成在安全情境中体验负面情绪时能找到乐趣。你可以在儿童游戏中看到恐怖元素的影子。以捉迷藏为例，它是捕食者-猎物互动的模拟。孩子躲藏，成人假装是捕食者，像危险野兽一样嚎叫着寻找孩子。

This simulation gives the child crucial information about how to avoid becoming prey, and children tend to find that kind of activity deeply satisfying, presumably because it gives them a safe experience of a potentially catastrophic scenario.

这种模拟为孩子提供了关于如何避免成为猎物的关键信息，孩子们往往觉得这类活动非常令人满足，大概是因为它让他们安全地体验潜在灾难性场景。

They find it pleasurable, and pleasure is evolution's way of motivating us toward adaptive behaviour.

他们觉得这很愉快，而愉快是进化激励我们采取适应性行为的方式。

Horror is pleasurable to many people because it lets us play with negative emotions and develop coping strategies. We learn what it feels like to be truly afraid, and we learn how to handle negative emotion.

恐怖对许多人来说是愉快的，因为它让我们玩弄负面情绪并发展应对策略。我们学会了真正害怕的感觉，也学会了如何处理负面情绪。

How, then, does horror work? My research suggests that horror works by exploiting an ancient set of biological defence mechanisms—an evolved fear system, which we share with other animals. But humans are uniquely imaginative, and we use our evolved imagination to travel into virtual worlds that are full of danger.

那么，恐怖是如何起作用的？我的研究表明，恐怖通过利用一套古老的生物防御机制——一种我们与其他动物共享的进化恐惧系统——来起作用。但人类具有独特的想象力，我们用进化而来的想象力进入充满危险的虚拟世界。

There are good reasons for watching a horror film, even if you're not a loyal horror fan. If you make it through the film in one piece, you'll probably experience a strong sense of mastery, a sense that you were able to make it through an appalling experience. Anyway, watching a horror film makes you better at handling your own fear, and who knows when that will become critically relevant?

观看恐怖片有充分的理由，即使你不是忠实的恐怖迷。如果你完整地看完了电影，你可能会体验到一种强烈的掌控感，一种你能够度过可怕经历的感觉。总之，观看恐怖片能让你更好地处理自己的恐惧，谁知道这何时会变得至关重要呢？